Feining Love
by quail58
Summary: It's not unusal to lie at class reunions. An entry for the Pretend Date Contest hosted by blackandivorykeys.


**Pretend Date Contest**

1. Cannon pairings. No exceptions.  
2. Must be able to relate to Pretend Dating. Be creative!  
3. Must have a plot. (No threesome, slash, and etc. Lemons are accepted.)  
4. Must be a one-shot. It can be extended after the contest ends.  
5. Must have rules pasted on entry and summary marked with Pretend Date Contest or PDC.  
6. Contest ends June 22nd, 2009, 11:59 PM EST (Eastern Time). Two entries allowed.

PM blackandivorykeys when you are finished with your entry or have questions. Three winners get prizes. Good luck! Can't wait to see what you come up with. ;)

--

When I got the invitation to my class reunion I had fully intended on pitching it and thinking nothing more about it. Unfortunately I didn't get to do that fast enough before Alice snatched it from my hands.

"This is a perfect chance for you to show all of them that you're better off living in Seattle than in Forks," Rosalie had suggested to me trying to be of help to Alice.

"When was the last time you visited your father in Forks?" Jasper had to ask.

That was followed by Rosalie's great plan, "And you can take Edward as your pretend date to make them all jealous. Lauren would be pea green with envy when she finds out you're dating a doctor."

Alice started jumping up and down. "And maybe then Edward will finally see how date worthy you are and ask you out on a real date." Of course she would suggest that.

"Speaking of which," Emmett interrupted her. "Where is Edward?"

"I think he said he'd be running late tonight," Jasper suggested.

Edward was often the last person in our group to arrive. Since he had his own medical practice, his hours were rather unpredictable at times. Sometimes that was a great relief because that meant that I had to spend less time acting like I wasn't madly in love with him; but at other times, not due to a fault of their own, I often felt lonely without him there as we were the last two to not be married, to each other nonetheless. Sometimes I felt that maybe I loved him only because we were the last in the group to not be married to each other.

That was a rather foolish notion. Edward was everything good and kind that a man could be. He was a complete gentleman who always put others' needs before his own. On the other hand, there was me: sarcastic, reclusive, and utterly forgettable. Edward couldn't go somewhere without being hit on, and I hadn't had a decent date since I graduated from college. There was no way that Edward would ever see me as date worthy, much less marriage worthy.

And almost as if on cue, Edward walked into my apartment carrying a bag of takeout food. "Hey, sorry about being late." He set the food down and went into my kitchen and helped himself to a plate and utensils. When he walked back out to the living room he finally noticed how quiet it was. He turned to us and asked, "What's going on?"

"Bella got an invitation to her class reunion," Alice stated happily.

His green eyes looked into mine as he asked me, "And I'm guessing you don't want to go but Alice does?" I just nodded my head. "And by the looks of it, I'm expected to go with her and act as her pretend boyfriend so that she doesn't look lonely."

That would have been bad enough except that Alice has to add, "And to make sure that Mike Newton doesn't bother her all night." I turned red in complete embarrassment and covered my face with my hands. "So, are you going?"

"Sure. Just let me know the date, and what time you want me to leave so that I can close the office early that day." And just like that he easily caved in and trapped me into attending this ludicrous thing.

On the Friday afternoon before the reunion we left Seattle for Forks, Washington. We had to go around a national forest to get there, so all I could see for miles are trees, but that was not what was on my mind. Apparently Alice had told Charlie all about her plan, and he had agreed to let Edward stay there this weekend. This would be the first time that Charlie had ever met Edward.

Charlie only came to visit me for Christmas, and we always spent that time in my apartment with my mother and Phil, who flew in from Jacksonville, Florida. Because of that, the only friend of mine that Charlie had met was Alice at our college graduation ceremony. Yet just after that one meeting Alice had Charlie wrapped around her little finger. But I worried about what Charlie would think about Edward. I was especially worried because I had no idea about what Alice had told Charlie about Edward's and my relationship, or lack thereof.

"Why don't you take a nap, and I'll wake you up when we get closer," Edward suggested to me. In other words, he didn't expect to carry on a conversation with me. I pulled out my book and read while enjoying the sounds of Debussy's music filled the car.

Hours later Edward announced to me, "Bella, we're almost there." I looked out the window to see the sleepy town not far off in the distance. It wasn't hard to give him directions to Charlie's house since the town was so small.

I noticed when we pulled up to Charlie's house that there was another vehicle sitting outside. "I guess Billy decided to come over tonight to watch the game," I told Edward getting out of the car before he could. Edward insisted on carrying my suitcase into the house. "Char-, Dad, I'm home!" I announced as we walked into the kitchen.

"I'm in here," he called from the living room. Sure enough, he was sitting in his favorite recliner while Billy and Harry sat on the couch. All three of them were watching the Mariners game.

I smiled at them and said, "Hi, guys. I want to introduce you to Edward." I looked back at Edward and noticed that he had tensed up slightly and was hiding just out of view from the guys. Tugging his arm, I pulled him over into the doorway of the living room and announced, "This is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my dad, Billy Black and Harry Clearwater."

"Hey, Edward. Pull in a chair and join us," Charlie suggested, his eyes never leaving the TV screen. Edward just shrugged and carried one of the kitchen chairs into the living room while I tried to take our luggage upstairs one at a time. As soon as Edward noticed he jumped up again and carried both suitcases at once upstairs before excusing himself and heading back to the living room.

Once the door closed I called Alice. "We're here now."

"How did Charlie react to Edward?"

"He's busy watching the game and invited Edward to join him and a couple of his friends. By the way, that reminds me: What did you tell Charlie about Edward?"

"Nothing besides the truth. Don't you worry about Charlie. Once he realizes how good of a guy Edward is, he'll be ready to give you away in marriage."

"I'm not marrying Edward," I said obstinately.

"Yet...You're not married to him yet, but I'm not giving up until you two are married."

"Sure," I said rolling my eyes. "I think I'm going to unpack a little and then make dinner for the guys. I'll call you on Sunday and tell you all about the reunion."

"You better."

When I got downstairs I could hear the guys talking. "You know Edward," my father said, "Bella is my only child, and I won't allow anyone to hurt her. Do you understand that?"

To which Edward replied, "I would never intentionally hurt her."

"That's all I ask."

I wondered what they were talking about, but Harry covered it up quickly by mentioning that he had brought some of his wife's fish fry and it was sitting in the refrigerator. Edward was kind enough to get up and help me cook dinner despite the ribbing he got from the rest of the guys. We had a pretty enjoyable dinner sitting in front of the TV. Edward and I were never much for watching sports, but we could manage when necessary.

After cleaning up, I took a shower and flopped onto my bed intending to read. Instead I fell asleep and slept the whole night through. When I woke up and realized that I had slept the entire night in my room I felt bad because it had been arranged that Edward would sleep in my room and I would sleep on the couch.

So I crept down the stairs to see how Edward was fairing on the couch. Charlie was already downstairs, an empty cereal bowl and a half empty coffee mug sitting on the table in front of him but his nose buried in the newspaper. "I'm going fishing today with Billy. Are you and Edward going to be fine here?" he asked me.

"I'm no longer in high school," I pointed out to him.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes and announced, "I know that. I just thought you might have expected me to entertain the both of you today."

"No, we'll be fine. Since the sun's out, I might take Edward to First Beach. Maybe we can stop by and see Jacob. Is he still living at Billy's?"

"Yeah. I'll let him know you'll be at the beach." I nodded my head and pulled out a bowl and some cereal for myself. "You know, Jacob's still single," Charlie suggested as he tried to pretend that he was still reading the newspaper.

I let out a an exasperated sigh before stating, "I'm sure he doesn't want to move to Seattle."

"It would be nice if you moved back here. They're looking for a teacher at the reservation school."

"No thanks. Besides, I don't think Alice could part with me." His nodded his head and turned his attention fully upon the newspaper. I knew that mentioning Alice would silence him.

After Charlie left I heard the sound of the couch cushions squeaking under pressure and then footsteps coming from the living room. Edward emerged wearing only a pair of shorts, and my eyes instantly traveled to his toned chest. I chided myself for staring and turned away, but the blush forming on my cheeks gave me away. "So we're going to the beach today?" he asked innocently.

"Yeah," I confirmed taking a quick glance at him. He was smiling my favorite crooked smile as he stared at me. "Do you want to eat or take a shower first?"

"I'll eat first. Do you mind if I just help myself?" he asked opening up random cabinets.

"Sure."

He sat down with almost overflowing bowl and glanced at the newspaper before launching into, "So, who is this Jacob, and why does your father want you to marry him?"

My blush grew darker as I contemplated how to bring up an ex-boyfriend to the man I now wanted as my boyfriend. "Jacob is Billy's son, and they always wanted us to get married because they're such good friends. Only thing is, neither of them know that Jacob and I did date for a little while in high school."

"Why don't they know?" he asked before shoveling in a spoonful of food.

I stared at the table and remembered the agreement that Jacob and I had made when he asked me out on our first date. "We didn't want to disappoint our fathers in case it didn't work out."

"And it apparently didn't." It was more a statement than a question.

"No, I never felt the same way he did." I stood up abruptly and announced to him, "I'll get some towels for you so you can take a shower after you eat." He opened his mouth to say something, but I rushed from the room so I didn't have to listen. I had already made enough of a fool of myself today, and we still hadn't even made it to the reunion yet.

Edward was uncharacteristically silent as he drove me to the beach. We had brought with us a picnic lunch in case we decided to stay for a long time. The moment we pulled up I could tell we would be there for awhile because not only was Jacob there, but so were most of my friends from LaPush. There was a whole group of us that hung out on the weekends when I wasn't pretending to be friends with the kids from Forks.

"Bells," Jacob yelled as he ran towards me and pulled me into a hug. I blushed at the attention he was giving me, especially when I heard Edward clear his throat loudly. Jacob let go of me and glared at Edward, who glared back at him. "Bells, is this that Edward guy my father was talking about?"

"Jacob," I said harshly as I punched his right bicep. Edward walked up to me and put his arm around my waist in a protective stance. "Edward, this is Jacob. Jacob, this is Edward, my..." And then I froze not knowing really want to call him. Was I supposed to say he was just my date for this evening, or was he okay pretending that he was my boyfriend? What had Alice told me I should call him?

Thankfully Edward saved me by finishing my sentence for me, "boyfriend. I'm Bella's boyfriend." He held out his hand to shake Jacob's, but Jacob rudely snubbed him.

The group was rather happy to see me, just like I was happy to see them. Of all the people from this area, these were the only ones I wanted to see the most, besides Angela. If I didn't go to the class reunion tonight, it wouldn't be an entire loss since I got to see the gang again. And I found out that most of them were now married with children of their own. It felt weird still being single when all of them except for Jacob and Leah were married.

We hung out nearly the whole day with everyone telling stories about the foolish things we did when we were younger and catching up on each other's lives. I was relieved that everyone else was rather accepting of Edward, but Jacob continued to dislike him. It was almost as if he and Edward were having some sort of unspoken contest. Every time Jacob would touch me, even just briefly, Edward would get more affectionate. It was almost unnerving, but I also savored the moment because I knew that as soon as we left Forks I would never again feel Edward's arms around me or his body close to mine. I knew I was being pathetic, especially considering my heart was on the line.

After being on a beach, I needed to shower again before going out that night. As Edward showered again, I pulled on the dress that Alice had insisted on me buying just for the evening. The moment she saw me emerge from the dressing room with it on she insisted that this was the dress that would make Edward look at me like a woman instead of a friend. I shouldn't have listened to her because his eyes didn't light up; instead he looked at me like he always did, truly forgettable.

The reunion was held in the high school gym because there wasn't anywhere large enough in Forks to hold that many people. "So this is the infamous Forks High School?" Edward asked pulling into the parking lot.

"Yeah, still not very impressive."

"It's impressive," Edward joked. "I've never seen a high school housed in several small buildings instead of one large one." I couldn't help but laugh with him because it was entirely true.

Eric Yorkie was sitting at a table with another woman just inside the building. "Bella Swan," he cried standing up and shuffling through a pile of name badges. "Here you are," he said handing mine over to me. It had my name and my senior year picture. Another badge was handed to Edward, only I noticed his was printed Dr. Edward Cullen, MD. I'm guessing that was Alice's doing since she sent the RSVP for me. "It's good to see you again. I want to introduce you to my wife, Stephanye." I remembered that his wife was only a couple of years younger than us and just as much of a nerd.

"Yeah, it is," I said shaking her hand before turning to Edward. "And I want you to meet my boyfriend," I said. The word felt foreign on my tongue and I had to force myself not to swallow it. "Edward Cullen."

"So, I noticed you're a doctor," Eric said as he literally pointed to the badge.

I giggled a little out of nervousness. "I'm sorry, I let a friend of mine fill out my RSVP card."

"Not a problem. I thought it was pretty impressive, so I made sure Eric put it on there," Stephanye informed me. "So, what is it that you do for a living, Bella?" she asked me politely.

"I teach high school biology at a private school in Seattle."

Eric said, "Wow. That must be a great job." I nodded my head in agreement since I didn't know what else to say. "I'm a software engineer, and Stephanye stays at home and takes care of our four children." At this, Stephanye pulled out a picture of their four children. "We had Timothy first, and then the twins, Jeremy and Derek. I don't like having an odd number of children, so we had one more, little Brandon." I ooh'ed and ahh'ed politely at the right moments.

"The party can start because Mike Newton is here!" I heard Mike yell as he entered the building. I heard Edward chuckle slightly at the absurdity of the announcement. "Bella! Long time no see, home girl," he said putting his arm over my shoulders. It was strange, but I swear I heard Edward growling at Mike. "And still a Swan, I see," he announced trying to pluck at my name badge.

Edward stepped up and said loudly, "Excuse me, but I believe the lady doesn't want you touching her."

"And who are you?" Mike asked rudely.

Edward put his arm my waist and pulled me towards his muscular body. "I'm her boyfriend, Dr. Edward Cullen." And then Edward held out his hand to shake Mike's as if nothing amiss had happened between the two of them.

"Uh, yeah, Mike Newton." Mike shook Edward's hand briefly before turning his attention back to Eric.

As Edward lead me towards the gym he pointed out to me, "Now I know why it is that Alice thought you needed protection from him." I just laughed nervously because I knew that was probably not the last trick Mike had up his sleeves for tonight.

Angela and Ben were sitting at a table talking quietly between themselves when I walked up to them. The moment Angela looked up she smiled and waved at me, so I waved back at her. "Bella," Angela exclaimed as she ran up to me to hug me. We were normally not the type to hug, but I figured after not seeing someone for a decade you forget all about the discomfort. "You remember my husband, Ben."

"Of course," I said shaking Ben's hand. "And I should say I'm not surprised that the both of you are married. How long, and how many children do you have?"

"We've been married for seven years, and we have two children." She dug through her clutch for her wallet and showed me the pictures of her two adorable children. "This is Katie, she's four; and this is Ben, Jr., and he is two." She put the wallet back into her purse and smiled at Edward before giving me the look that said she was impressed with him. "So, who is your date?"

"Angela, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is Angela Webber. No, wait, it's Cheney now, isn't it."

"Cheney."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Bella told me that you were the person she was looking forward to seeing the most."

Angela's smile grew larger and she pulled me into for another hug. "I'm so happy to hear that you missed me because I missed you also." She straightened up and noticed someone over my shoulder and turned around pulling me towards her so that she could whisper to me, "Be careful not to get trapped by Jessica. She just married a stock broker and has been bragging about how much money they have." I was rather shocked that Angela would say something that harsh, but I'm sure she had good reason for doing so.

"Bella," Mike yelled out walking towards me. "And Angela. Dude, Ben!" He was pointing at everyone as he talked making me believe he thought he was still in high school. "And Jessica. Dude, who's the stiff?" I couldn't help but giggle with Angela.

For the next ten minutes I had to listen to Jessica tell me about her new expensive house in downtown Seattle. I made sure not to mention that I was living in Seattle lest she ask me to spend time with her so that she could show me the wealth she was currently bragging about. Edward seemed just as little impressed as I was, but, then again, Edward was probably as rich as they were. The only difference was, Edward only spent his money lavishly on one item, his silver Volvo.

And then Lauren Mallory had to join our little group. As if dealing with Jessica and Mike wasn't bad enough, Lauren's attitude had only increased since high school. She still hated me, and I didn't even have to say anything to make her feel that way. The glaring was enough to drive me crazy, but her husband didn't seem to notice or care, most likely because he was so used to her behavior.

The DJ turned the music on an hour into the event and several of the couples went out onto the dance floor leaving me alone with Edward and Mike. "Bella, do you want to dance?" Mike asked me.

I gave a wary glance at Edward before stating, "Mike, I still can't dance."

So instead Edward asked me, "Bella, would you like to dance." I gave him a puzzled look as to why he would ask that after I just turned down Mike, but he ignored it and stood up holding his hand out to me. Carefully I put my hand in his and allowed him to pull me onto the dance floor. "Don't worry, it's all in the leading," he said as if reading my mind.

Edward pulled me close to him and we swayed gently to the music. Over Edward's shoulder I saw Mike glaring at the two of us. "Don't worry about him," Edward's voice cut in. "He should know better than to ask a woman to dance in front of her boyfriend." He had a point, but I couldn't help but feel bad because it appeared that I had lied to Mike.

During the dinner portion of the evening we all sat down and told stories of our "wild" high school years. "I noticed you aren't mentioned in most of these stories," Edward leaned over and commented quietly to me during one of Eric's many stories.

"I shouldn't be. I spent most of my weekends at home or in LaPush."

"It's not hard to see why," he commented. I could tell that he wasn't exactly having the time of his life, but he at least was hiding it well. And I wasn't enjoying this evening either. Mike never changed, Eric was still needy, Tyler was just there, Jessica was snobbish, and Lauren was still stuck up. The only two people I enjoyed talking to was Angela and Ben, and they were often being horded by Jessica, Mike, or Eric.

Towards the end of dinner, I excused myself and went to the restroom. Upon checking if anyone else was in there with me, I called up Alice. "Please tell me that you didn't leave already," she whined as soon as she picked up.

"No, we're still here, but we're both horribly bored. Poor Edward suffered through a lecture from Charlie, a night of nothing but sports, Jacob's ire, and now this terrible party. I'm going to kill you when I get home because if I had any chance ever with Edward, it's gone now."

"It can't be that bad," she blew me off.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath to keep myself from yelling. It was a good thing I had calmed myself down because Angela and Jessica walked in only seconds later. "I'll have to call you tomorrow. I don't know what time we're planning on leaving, but I can imagine that Edward will want to leave early in the morning."

"Is someone listening now?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

"Okay, we'll have to continue this when you get home, and don't think I won't. If I don't hear from you by nine tomorrow night I'm breaking down your door."

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth before hanging up on her.

Angela smiled at me in a reassuring way before asking me, "Something wrong?"

"No," I said trying to act innocent. The look from Jessica told me that she didn't believe me, and rightfully so since I couldn't lie to save my life. "Okay, so I have this friend who doesn't exactly know when to give up."

"I bet this was the same friend who Edward mentioned had helped you two get together," Angela suggested to me. They had obviously asked him how we had gotten together once I had left the table. I made a mental note to ask him what the story was so that I wouldn't get caught lying again.

"Yeah."

"I wish I had a friend like that."

Jessica pulled out a tube of lipstick and did a retouch while Angela used the restroom. "So, Bella," Jessica started. "When's Edward going to ask you to marry him?"

I almost laughed aloud but caught myself in time. The thought of Edward asking me out was completely...impossible. Edward couldn't even think of me as more than a friend. I passed my almost laugh off as a cough and composed myself again. "I don't know when Edward's going to be ready for that. We've talked about it but never seriously."

Angela emerged from the stall and started washing her hands as she informed me, "I think he's ready to ask you at any moment. The way he stares at you reminds me of the way Ben used to look at me when we started going out. I sometimes still see it, but it's not as common once you've been together for a long time. Yet Edward's looked at you that way all night."

"Really?" I squeaked. Both women raised their eyebrows at me. In a more calm voice I told them, "I've never noticed any difference in the way he looks at me from he moment I met him on."

"You're so lucky," Jessica practically blubbered. I seriously thought she was on the verge of tears. After a ten minute story, I found out that her marriage wasn't as good as she had been pretending it was all night. And by the time she was done she was begging us not to tell Lauren or Mike, especially since seeing Mike stirred up old feelings within her. If she wasn't currently married, no matter how bad her marriage was, I probably would have thrown her at Mike in order to keep him away. It had worked for junior prom.

I couldn't tell you how glad I was to finally get out of the bathroom and go find Edward after those long fifteen minutes. Selfishly I hoped that Edward would be eagerly awaiting for me to come back or to see if I was okay. Instead I found him talking to Lauren, alone.

She was sitting very closely to him and was often reaching out to run her finger along his arm or down his chest. I couldn't see his face since he had this back to me, but the fact that he didn't stop her from touching him made my heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

I needed air and room to think, so I stepped outside and sat on a bench outside of the cafeteria where the area was barely lit. My mind was reeling through a myriad of emotions. I wanted more than anything to be angry at the both of them, and I knew that it was just my jealousy flaring up. If I were to behave like a possessive child, I would do nothing but drive Edward further away and make me look like a complete fool in front of Lauren.

Yet, if I didn't do anything and Edward did hook up with Lauren, that would certainly make me look bad. Either way it would get out that I was fooling them all into believing he was in love with me, or they would think I wasn't enough to keep him interested. The truth was, I wasn't interesting enough, but they didn't need to know that.

Of course Lauren would look extremely bad also having cheated on her husband, but, then again, she would always be able to lord over me that she had stolen my boyfriend for her affair. Either way I looked at it, she was always going to lord over me about something, be it stealing Edward from me or how pathetic I was for lying.

So I came to the conclusion that the best way to handle it was to somehow break in and advise Edward. I wasn't going to tell him that he shouldn't hook up with Lauren because of how it would make me look. The last thing I needed was for him to find out about my feelings for him. No, instead I was going to advise him that it would not be in his best interest to get involved with a married woman who had a reputation of being intentionally and unnecessarily cruel. The only thing she had to deserve someone like him was looks.

When I got back into the gym, I found Edward now sitting a distance from Lauren, but they were still talking. "Hey, Bella, can I finally have a dance?" Mike asked as he stepped into my personal bubble.

I glanced over at the back of Edward's head for a moment before answering Mike, "Yes, but only if you realize I'm only doing this as a friend." I'm sure he didn't hear me because he plastered a perverted smile on his face as he grabbed me by the waist and led me out into the middle of the dance floor. He held me too closely, and no matter how much I begged him or pushed him away, he still remained too close to me.

And within seconds Mike was thrust from me and held an arms length away by Edward's hand. "She doesn't want you dancing with her," Edward grounded out through clenched teeth. "So leave her alone."

"No, Edward," I said tugging at his outstretched arm. "It's okay. I agreed to dance with him, but I didn't agree to let him hold me so closely."

Edward cast his eyes upon me, but it wasn't anger I saw in them anymore. Instead, he looked hurt, betrayed. "Bella, I thought..." he said letting the words trail off.

I felt so sheepish all of a sudden, so I looked down at my shoes as I informed him, "You were talking to someone and I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Bella, I would have happily stopped talking with Lauren if you had just asked me for a dance." He dropped his hand from Mike's chest and instead he used it to pull my chin upwards so that I was forced to look into his eyes. "You're my best friend, and I would do anything for you." The fire in his eyes was not entirely gone, but it was replaced by a smoldering look that left me breathless.

"Edward," I cried out throwing myself at him and holding on tightly. Slowly Edward's arms reached around and held me close.

He leaned down and whispered into my ear, "I don't want you to think you need to lower yourself to being with guys like Mike. He doesn't deserve you. None of them ever did."

That sentence struck me as odd. There had never been a guy who had shown an interest in me for long since Edward had walked into my life. A couple of times guys had shown interest in me, but after they met Edward they would always make an excuse for why they needed to leave and I never heard from them again. I couldn't even get the guys at the speed dating events, something I was forced into doing by Alice, to ever call me. Edward would always come and tell me that they were the fools and there was nothing wrong with me.

So as I contemplated this, I noticed a pattern that had always occurred. They always seemed interested until they met Edward. Was it possible that Edward could have driven them all away? Did he think them to be not good enough for me that he would drive them away like he was doing to Mike at this moment?

"Edward?" I asked pulling my head away from his chest to look up at him.

He looked down at me like he always did, and I was reminded of Angela's comment in the bathroom. Did he look upon me as a man in love does? If so, then that would explain why he didn't act any different tonight than he did any other night. And if it were so, then that would mean that he had been in love with me from the first time he had laid eyes on me.

"Edward, how do you feel about me, honestly?"

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights at that very moment. He ran a hand through his messy hair before answering me, "Bella, you're not ready to know yet."

"Yes, I am," I said defiantly. "Did you drive away all those guys who had been interested in me?" I watched as his mouth flapped open and closed several times before he finally closed it tightly. "You did, didn't you?"

"Bella, none of them were good enough for you," he replied again. "I'm not good enough for you."

A tear slipped from my eye and down my cheek. Edward had kept silent about his feelings for all of these years because he thought he wasn't good enough for me. I felt his thumb brush away another tear so gently it almost tickled. "You are too good for me," I practically blubbered before holding onto him tightly again. My face was buried in his chest in an attempt to hide my tears from everyone else.

"Never, Bella. I'll never be too good for you. You're everything good, kind, and selfless that I could never be."

"But I'm so plain and ordinary."

"You were never plain or ordinary. When I'm around you it's like the sun is shining even in the middle of my worst days. And you always keep me guessing." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled something out, but I refused to look at it. "While you were upstairs unpacking, I asked Charlie if some day he might grant me your hand in marriage if I were ever lucky enough to earn your love. I know I could never deserve it, but I prayed every night that I might be able to do something to earn it."

"You never had to earn it," I corrected him. "It was always there for the taking, only I never let you know because I was so convinced you could never love me."

He chuckled and I felt how his chest bounced with the motion. "I guess we've both been fools in love then." Slowly he pulled away from me and then got down on one knee in the middle of the gym floor right in front of everyone. "Bella, I know this is rather sudden, but I vowed that the first chance I got I would take it. I love you with my whole heart, and I can't imagine a day without you. The moments I don't spend with you seem like an eternity as I dream about the time I can be by your side. I would be...privileged, honored if you would be my wife. Bella, will you marry me?"

I was completely speechless, and I felt my heart thumping loudly within my chest. Never in a million years had I thought Edward would love me much less want to marry me. "But we've never officially dated," I whispered to him.

So he whispered back to me, "I don't need to date you to know that I want you to be my wife, but if you need more time to make up your mind..."

I put my index finger on his lips to silence him. "I don't need any more time either. Yes, I will marry you."

He was on his feet in seconds and we were wrapped up in each other. I could hear everyone around us clapping, and that was the first time I had noticed them in the last five minutes. Thoroughly embarrassed, I turned bright red and hid my face again from their view. Then I heard someone clinking their fork against a glass, followed by more people doing so. Edward and I had never kissed, so I knew it would be rather awkward sharing our first kiss in front of everybody, especially since they believed that we had previously been dating.

Edward didn't need much encouragement as he lowered his lips to mine and we shared a sweet kiss. Everyone awed before coming up to congratulate the both of us.

On the way home I said to Edward, "I'm guessing my father gave you permission for my hand in marriage."

He laughed slightly before stating, "Yeah, along with a lecture about not hurting his little girl." He parked along the curb and stated, "He's going to be surprised that it happened so quickly. I told him it could be years. Not to mention the fact that this morning he was still trying to convince you to move back home and marry Jacob."

"Well, he'll just have to get used to it," I said grabbing his hand in mine.

Charlie was rather stunned at the announcement, but he congratulated Edward heartily. We called my mother the next morning and told her the news, and she started making plans to fly us out to Florida so she could meet Edward.

But it was our friends' reactions that brought us the most pleasure. We asked everyone to meet us at Edward's apartment on Monday after work, and I made sure to arrive late so that they couldn't get a glimpse of the ring beforehand.

"So, how was the reunion?" Alice asked bouncing in her seat. Even Jasper's calm hand couldn't slow her excitement.

Edward and I smiled at each other before he wrapped an arm around me and stated, "I finally asked her out."

"It's about time," the rest of them said in unison.

We both looked rather stunned. I didn't know why it was such a surprise considering they probably heard about our feelings from the both of us. "If we had known that all we had to do to get the two of you together was send you to Forks for a weekend, we would have done it sooner," Rosalie complained as she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you should have," I commented harshly. Then I smiled at them and continued, "Because then we would be getting married sooner." At this I held out my hand and flashed my engagement ring.


End file.
